
gass \-'A--^.- 

Book — .M-S^C^ 



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Bi-Centennial Souvenir 



i693-i893 



V 



NEW CASTLE, NEW HAMPSHIRE 



COMPILED BY 



Chestkr B. Curtis. 

'I 



^ 



v/Y 



Printed and Illustrated 

By the Republican Press Association, 

Concord, N. H. 



INTRODUCTION. 



This little book is, necessarily, a hasty compilation. 
Its lirst object is to preserve, in tangible tbrm, a record of 
our bi-centennial celebration, together with a few facts, 
culled from histor}'-, bearing more or less directly upon 
this event. Furthermore, it is intended to convey to absent 
sons and daughters an idea of the New Castle of to-day. 

Our social position acquired during the past decade, 
necessitates a brief statement of our present flourishing con- 
dition. It is hoped the numerous illustrations will supply 
that which is lacking in the few paragraphs here given. 
To Mr. John Albee, the compiler expresses his appreciation 
of the use of" New Castle, Historic and Picturesque," from 
which a part of the following extracts are taken, some 
verbatim. Also to those citizens who have contributed 
the illustrations, and to the authors of the literary exer- 
cises of the day, the compiler expresses his thanks. 

c. B. c. 



OFFICERS OF THE TOWN OF NEW CASTLE. 



SELECTMEN. 

Fred Bell, Chainnan. 
Ambrose Card. 
Charles H. Becker. 

Howard M. Curtis, Clerk and Treasurer 

COMMITTEE ON CELEBRATION. 

William Edward Marvin, President. 

EXECUTIVE BOARD. 

John Albee, Chairman. 
Conrad Push. 
Fred Bell. 
Ambrose Card. 
Charles H. Becker. 
Moses R. Curtis. 

Conrad Push, 
Chester B. Curtis, 

Secretaries. 



OFFICIAL PROGRAMME. 



Rinirinf; of bells. 
6 a.m., i^>i-. 6 p.m. 

National salute fired from Fort Constitution. 
II A. M. Procession and Flag-raisings. 

Speech at Grammar School by Col. T. E. O. 

Marvin. 
Speech at Primary School by 

Exercises at Fort Constitution. 

Address of Welcome, 

Fred Bell, Chairman of Selectmen. 
Address by John Albee, Chairman of Exec- 
utive Board. 
Oration bv Frank Warren Hackett. 

1 p. M. Dinner in Stone Shed. 

2 p. M. Sports. 

lo-oared boat race. 

New Castle, Portsmoutii, and Kittery 
Point crews. 
Bicycle race. 

Potato, obstacle, and sack races. 
lOO-yards dash. 

Yacht race by Piscataqua Yacht Club. 
7 p. M. Band concert. 

Bonfire, fire-works. 

Music furnished bv the Dover Cornet Band. 



NEW CASTLE, N. H. 



It Is difficult to separate the history of New Castle 
from the general affairs of the Province of New Hamp- 
shire in the early times. We may naturally claim 
whatever transpired here, as the building of forts, the 
entry and clearance of vessels, the residence of gov- 
ernors, and the meetings of councils and assemblies, as 
a part of the town's history. New Hampshire has 
forgotten that story ; or, when she remembers, is apt 
to locate it at Portsmouth. The fact is, that the settle- 
ment of New^ Castle was prior to that of Portsmouth; 
and that for the first seventy-five years it was the cap- 
ital of the province, and two thirds of the provincial 
officials were citizens of the town. 

There are two aspects, two periods, that chiefiy make 
the history of New Castle interesting : the first is the 
town as the centre of all the principal events of the 
earliest provincial period ; the other is when, lett only 
to its own local affairs, it gradually became insular, 
clannish, and peculiar. In regard to the causes ot its 
early importance and subsequent obscurity, they were 
altogether natural. As soon as the colonists found 
out what were likely to be the natural resources and 
business of this part of New England, they planted 
themselves on this island, directly at the mouth of the 



Piscataqua, where the facihties for maritime affairs, for 
fisheries and Indian trade, were most convenient. 
But in those days it was necessary to protect your 
property and 3'our person by defences of some sort at 
exposed points. Now an island affords the most 
natural and easiest opportunities of defence. The 
form of this island was already that of a fort, very 
nearly square, with jutting points of land at the four 
angles, like bastions. Rude fortifications were early 
built on these four corners, which immediately gave 
the island still more the appearance of a great coast 
defence. The first was constructed by Capt. Walter 
Neale, between 1630 and 1640, at Fort Point. It was 
the duty of New Castle to keep a constant guard at the 
main Fort or Castle, of from four to six men ; and also a 
watchman on Jaffrey Point, and one or two in the 
vicinity of the free bridge. On this account the town 
was generally exempted from the levies for other mili- 
tary duty. New Castle was the pet of the province ; 
looked upon as a common possession, a barrier town, 
a place of refuge in case of extreme danger or disas- 
ter. So much for the military situation. 

No actual local government, independent of the 
jurisdiction of Massachusetts, was put in operation in 
New Hampshire before i68o-'8i, so that there is very 
little doubt the very first representative body ever con- 
vened in the state was at New Castle. The date of the 
first Council meeting is "Great Island, January 15, 
1683," and every one of its meetings was here until 
the year 1697. ^^^ ^^^^ members of this first recorded 
Council, including the governor, Edward Cranfield, 
lived at New Castle. 



Their first meetings were in the private houses of 
some of its members. The Jaffrey cottage, now 
owned and occupied by John Albee, Esq., and the 
residence of Jotham Emery, Esq., formerly the Prov- 
ince House, have been the scenes of these assembhes. 

New Castle became a port of entry about 1686 ; and 
for one hundred years thereafter the shipping interests 




5^y^^^^JE»'^jgs^^!^l^,< al ^ ^_ l ll^Mli W> aBl^l l »ll > «"J > J^■ iig*^»"^ » »•** « »»« i'<i- 



Thk Jakkrev Cottage, owned kv John Alhee, Esq. 

were extensive. In the olden time, merchant vessels 
carried guns, and often as many as the old fort 
mounted. But the little fort sent a shot across the 
bows of an)- vessel which had not paid its dues, and 
if the vessel submitted, she was obliged not only to 
pay them, but also the cost of said shot. 

From 1682 to 1693 several petitions were offered 



lO 



by the people of this island for a township charter ; 
but, being opposed by Portsniouth, as well as by the 
dwellers of Sagamore creek, it was not granted. For 
some years before 1693 the people had refused to pay 
any tax assessed by Portsmouth ; and at length the 
Governor and Council decided that such assessment 
was illegal. Having obtained this important conces- 




The Old Kos'n Allen House. 

sion, the procuring of a charter was no longer difficult, 
and followed almost immediately. The first vote was 
taken 17th March, 1693, and was a tie on the part of 
the Council, but Lieutenant-Governor Usher decided it 
by voting yea. When the matter came up again, the 
grant meanwhile having been prepared and engrossed, 
there was but one dissenting vote upon its being 



II 



sio-ned and executed by the lieutenant-g-overnor. So 
on the 30tl"i da\' of Ma)-, 1693, Great Island became 
" a Towne Corporate, by the name of New Castle, to 
the men and inhabitants thereof forever," on the pay- 
ment to the king-, or his successors, yearly, on the 20th 
October, of one peppercorn. 

The following- is a transcription of probably the old- 
est New England royal charter which has been pre- 
served. The parchment is uninjured, and the writing 
is still easily decipherable : 

CHARTER OF THE TOWN OF NEW CASTLE. 

William and Mary, by the Grace of God, of England, 
Scotland, France, and Ireland, King and Qiieen, Defend- 
ers of the Faith, &c., to all people to whom these presents 
shall Come Greeting. Know yee that Wee of our especiall 
Grace, certain knowledge, and meer motion, have Given 
and Granted And by these presents as tarr as in us lyes, 
Doe give and Grant to our beloved Subjects, Men and 
Inhabitants, within and upon Great Island, within our 
Province of New Hampshire, in New England, and the 
lands to them belonging, Running from a point of Land 
there on the South side of Safisxamores Creek, called 
Sampson's point, and from thence Southwest by the out- 
side of the fenced land of Saggamores Creek to the head 
of Aaron Moses field to an old Hemlock Tree by the side of 
the Road way, and from thence upon the aforesaid South- 
west point to the Road way, between Sandy Beach and 
Greenland, leaving Greenland about three miles to the 
Westwards soe forwards upon the same point to Hampton 
Bounds, and then East to the Sea, that the same be a 
Towne Corporate by the name of New Castle to the men 



12 



and Inhabitants thereof forever. And Wee doe b}' these 
presents Give and Grant unto the said Men and Inhabitants 
of our towne of New Castle, all and every, the streetes, 
lanes and highways within the said Towne, for the Pub- 
lique use and service of the Men and Inhabitants thereof 
and travellers there, together with full power, l3xence 
and authority to the said men and inhabitants within the 
said town forever, to establish, appoint, order and direct 
the establishing, making, laying out, ordering amending 
and repairing of all streetes, lanes, highways, ferry places 
and Bridges, in and throughout the said Towne, necessary, 
needful and convenient for the Men and Inhabitants of the 
said towne, and for all travellers and passengers there : 
Provided always that our said Lycence soe as above 
granted for the establishing, making and laying out of 
streetes, lanes, highwa3's, ferry places, and Bridges, be not 
extended or constructed to extend to the takincr awav of 
an}' person or persons Right of Property without his, her, 
or their consent, or by some knpwne law of our Province : 
To have and to hold and enjoy, all and singular, the prem- 
isses aforesaid, to the said Men and Inhabitants of the said 
Towne of New Castle and their successors forever. Render- 
ing and paying therefore unto us, our heirs and successors, 
or to such other office or officers as shall be appointed to 
receive the same yearly, the annual quitt rent or acknowl- 
edgement of Owne Peppercorn in the said Towne, on the 
five and twentieth day of October, yearly, forever. And 
for the better order, rule and government of the said Towne 
Wee doe by these presents Grant for us and our succes- 
sors, unto the men and inhabitants of the said Towne, That 
yearly and every year upon the first Tuesday of March, 
forever, they, the said men and inhabitants of our said 
Towne shall elect and choose by the major part of them, 
two sufficient and able men, householders in the said 
Towne, to be Constables to the next Quarter Sessions of the 



13 

Peace, to be held for the said Province, there to take the 
accustomed oaths appointed by Law tor the Execution of 
their othces, under such penaltyes as the Law of our said 
Province shall appoint and direct upon refusall or neglect 
therein. And Wee doe by these presents Grant for us, 
our Heirs and successors, unto the men and Inhabitants of 
the said Towne, That yearly and ever}^ year upon the said 
tirst Tuesday of March, ibrever, they, the said men and 
Lihabitants of our said Towne, or the major part of them, 
shall elect and choose three men, Inhabitants and house- 
holders, within our said Towne, to be overseers of the poor 
and highways, or selectmen for our said Towne, for the 
vear ensuing, with such powers, privilidges and authorities 
as any overseers or selectmen within our said Province 
have and enjoy or ought to have and enjoy. And wee doe 
lurther by these presents Give and Grant for us, our Heirs 
and successors, unto the men and inhabitants of the said 
Towne and their successors, forever, That they shall have 
and enjoy the use of the Ferry the days of the Fairs of 
New Castle, aforesaid, Ibrever, to be held there every 
Wednesdav, and one Fair for two dayes, to witt, on the 
tirst Tuesday and Wednesdayes of July, forever, together 
with all issues and profits to the said Market and Fair 
accrewing or happening, and all liberties and free customs, 
priviledges and emoluments to the said Market and Fair 
belonging or appertaining : To have and to hold said 
Market and Fair with issues and protits and liberties and 
free customs privilidges and emoluments to the same or 
either of them accrewing or happening, belonging or 
appertaining to the said men and Inhabitants of our said 
Towne of New Castle and their successors, forever. 

In testimony whereof Wee have caused the Seal ot our 
Province to be hereunto affixed. 

Witness, John Usher Esqr., our Lievetennt. Governor 
and Commander in Chiefe of our said Province at our 



14 



said Towne of New Castle, the thirtyeth day of May, in 
the fifth year of our Reigne, Annoque Domi 1693. 

Jn. Usher. 
By the Lievt. Governours Command 
Theo. Davis Sec'ry. 

"In regard to the name of the town, there is no 
positive proof of its origin. It would be most natural 




*j(**<fe_-. — ♦' 






Portcullis at Fort Constitution. 



to suppose it was borrowed from an English place, 
name, or from the baronial title. But this Province 
had no association with the English New Castle ; and 
it was not until long after that any duke of New 
Castle became connected with American colonial affairs. 
" Having eliminated those two sources of the proba- 
ble origin of the name, w-hat have we left? Only this : 



15 

that, in common allusions to the fort, it was often 
called 'The Castle,' and had its first distinctive name 
of Fort William and Mary not until one year after the 
incorporation of the town, that is, in 1694. It was 
then so named, probably, because about 1692 the king 
made the colony a present of some great guns, which 
were mounted on the old fort. In addition to this 
new ordnance, the fort was at about the same time 
repaired. 

"My argument then," says John Albee, "is simply 
this: The fort had been called and known for a long- 
period as 'The Castle;' at the date of incorporation, 
it was furnished with new guns and substantially 
rebuilt, becomino- a new castle. What more natural 
presumption, under these circumstances, than that the 
citizens and c)fficials should give to the words con- 
stantly on their lips, the dignity of capital letters. New 
Castle, and thus establish a name, significant of the 
town's military importance — 'the key,' or 'castle' as 
they alwa)s called it, of the province." 

With the exception of a few years during the 
Revolutionary period, our town records are now com- 
plete. Until 1873, the records from 1693 to 1726 
were missing. In the autumn of this year, the post- 
master, Howard M. Curtis, Esq., received a letter from 
Mr. Henry Starr, of London, informing him that one of 
his neighbors, a Captain Bokenhan of Cheshunt, in 
Hertfordshire, had in his possession two volumes of 
the town records of New Castle. 

The letter was cautiously answered, and the reply 
was the volumes themselves, bv the next Eno-lish 
mail. They proved to be our long-lost records of the 



i6 



first thirty-three years of the town's corporate existence, 
in perfect preservation. The town, at its next annual 
meeting- (March, 1874), passed a handsome vote of 
thanks to the a^entlemen who had discovered and 
presented the volumes, which was enorossed on parch- 
ment and forwarded to them in due time. 

New Castle was the scene of the first important 
aggressive armed action of the Revolutionary patriots. 

Before Paul Revere's ride to Lexington and Con- 
cord, he had taken a much longer one, if not as 
celebrated. On the 13th of December, 1774, he 
rode express from Boston to Portsmouth, dispatched 
by the Boston Committee of Safety, to inform the 
similar organization in Portsmouth of the new order of 
the British, that no gunpowder or military stores 
should be exported to America. No doubt this infor- 
mation was coupled with advice to secure the gun- 
powder at Fort William and Mary, before the arrival of 
a large garrison, reported also, by Paul Revere, to be 
on its way. Therefore, the next night, or next day, 
(the 14th), the Portsmouth "Sons of Liberty," with 
the patriots of New Castle, in all about four hundred, 
under Maj. John Sullivan and Capt. John Langdon, 
proceeded to the fort by water, as there was then no 
bridge, invested it, and summoned Capt. John Cochran 
and his five soldiers to surrender. However, it was 
not the officers and men, nor yet the fort they came 
for, but its one hundred barrels of powder, which they 
carried away and secreted under the Durham meeting- 
house. The subsequent history of this powder is 
equally interesting with its capture, for most of it was 
used at Bunker Hill, being carted there by oxen all 



17 



the way from Durham town, just in season to be 
served to the soldiers on the eve of engagement ; and 
the last ounce of it was fired in 1800 from the shotgun 
formerly belonging to Sir William Pepperell, and 
found as fatal to the Madbury gray squirrels as it had 
been to King George's red-coats. 

The Martello Tower, a little west of the fort, is the 
most picturesque object in New Castle. It is built on 
the ridge of a high ledge, anciently called Jourdan's 
Rocks. Artists have painted it, and poets love to 
relate its story, relying upon each other for imaginary 
embellishments. Its date is so recent^^and its history 
so small, that it is almost necessary to invent some 
facts in order to properly celebrate so rare a ruin. 
The annals say that the Tower was built during the 
last war with England, and when an immediate attack 
was expected by an English fleet. Its purpose was to 
guard more effectually the so called Town Beach, to 
the south, from landing parties, and to reinforce the 
batteries of Fort Constitution. It was planned and 
constructed under the care of Colonel Walbach, whose 
name it has always borne. He was a German count, 
who had seen service in the Prussian army and had 
fought against Napoleon in twenty-six battles. 

He was lonof in the service of the United States, and 
in command of Fort Constitution from 1806 to 1821. 
Colonel Walbach summoned the company of sixty men 
under Captain Marshall, who garrisoned the earth- 
works on Jaffrey's Point, at the eastern end of New 
Castle, to assist his own soldiers in building the tower; 
and all the citizens of the town also aided. It was 
rapidly completed ; but no enemy appeared, and soon 



the tower grew a ruin. It is so small as to suggest a 
fortification in miniature or model, rather than for 
actual use. It is the size of the round towers of the 
Middle Ages ; and on this account, perhaps, appears 
of greater antiquity — of the age the imagination easily 
renders it. Walbach Tower is of brick ; the terreplein 
was of peat, which has become like grassy turf. The 




Walbach Tower. 




tower is difficult of access now, as the entrance is 
obstructed by fallen bricks and mortar. Within is a 
rude pintle-stone, on which to swing a thirty-two 
pounder. There are three casemated embrasures for 
small cannon or muskets, in case of assault ; and a 
Lilliputian magazine. 

One feels that if it has not a legend it ought to have. 



^9 

THE LEGEND OF WALBACH TOWER. 

(New Castle, N. H., A. D. 1814.) 

If yovi should turn your feet from yonder town, 

Intent to bathe your eyes with heaUng sight 

Of open sea, and islands rising through, 

Mere heaps of shattered ledge that have outstood 

Eternal storm, though gray, defiant still. 

The river shows the path that you must go ; 

Its stream engrails the shores of twenty isles, 

And pleasant is the way as is its end ; 

For you will idle on the bridges three, 

And loiter through the ancient village street. 

That crowns the harbor mouth. Then you will come 

To beaches hard, and smoothed by each new tide 

Rolling between the low, port-cuUised rocks, 

Rocks bare a-top, but kirtled at the feet 

With sea-weed draperies that float or fall, 

As swells or sinks the lonely, restless wave. 

There, just above the shore, is Walbach Tower, 

Its crumbling parapet with grass and weeds 

O'ergrown, and peaceful in its slow decay. 

Old people always tell strange tales to us, 

A later race — alwa}s old tales are strange. 

And seems the story of this ancient tower 

A marvel, though believing while I hear. 

Because who tell it do believe it true. 

Three English ships lay under Appledore, 

And men in groups stood on the rocks, intent 

If they the fort could mean to cannonade. 

Or land along the coast and inland march 

To sack and burn the wealthy Portsmouth town. 

The morning dawned and twice again it dawned, 

And still the hostile ships at anchor swung ; 

But now a rumor ran they meant to land ; 

At once brave Walbach was resolved to build 

A tower which all tlie beaches should command, 

And mount thereon his sole tremendous gun. 

He summoned all the villagers at dusk 



20 



Of one September Sunday, when the days 

Are shortening and the nights are bright and cool. 

Men came and boys, and with them women came. 

Whose dauntless mothers helped our fathers win 

In that rebellious time against the king. 

The freedom which, forgetful of its cost. 

We toss to any hand raised o'er the crowd, 

And pushing hardest, or with loudest voice. 

They wrought as never men and women wrought. 

And in one night the tower completed rose. 

But lo, the miracle ! for unseen hands 

Alternate with the mason's dextrous craft. 

As voice repeats and catches up the voice 

In song, laid on the workmen every course 

Another course, and they no presence saw, 

But thought they heard the chiming trowels ring. 

The morning glimmer showed that labor done 

For which two nights were counted scarce enough ; 

Then well their awed but joyful hearts confessed 

Some present deity their champion friend, 

To whom they knelt upon the dewy grass. 

As in the east, the sun returning, built 

A tower of gold along the ocean floor. 

And offered up subdued and grateful praise. 

The hateful ships approached the river mouth. 

Stood off and on and tacked about ; at last. 

Firing a gun to stern, they sailed away. 

Still stands the tower. Long may it stand, disused I 

Without a blow, one foe it put to flight. 

And when another comes it will arise 

And in its ruins keep its legend good. 

For while I told this tale one summer night. 

Leaning a weary head on fondest breast. 

We heard the sea-maids on the outer rocks 

Splash in the falling tide, and dimly saw 

What seemed their tresses, undulating there ; 

And felt, around, below, above, the power. 

Not human, but the help of human hands, 

When set to labor in some noble cause. 



21 



New Castle is not without its story of witchcraft, 
though that supposed practice never flourished exten- 
sively in New Hampshire. Here is given a title page 
of a rare pamphlet published in London by Richard 
Chamberlain, at one time a guest of George Walton, 
whose house was the scene of action. 

Lithobolia : or, the Stone-throwing Devil. Being an 
Exact and True Account (by way of Journal) of the 
various actions of infernal Spirits, or (Devils Incarnate) 
Witches, or both : and the great Disturbance and Amaze- 
ment they gave to George Walton's Family, at a place 
called Great Island, in the Province of New Hampshire in 
New England, chiefly in throwing about (by an Invisible 
hand) Stones, Bricks and Brick-bats of all sizes, with 
several other things, as Hammers, Mauls, Iron-Crows, 
Spits, and other domestic Utensils, as came into their 
Hellish Minds, and this for the space of a Qiiarter of a 
Year. By R. C. Esqr., who was a sojourner in the same 
Family the whole Time, and an Ocular Witness of those 
Diabolick Inventions. The Contents hereof being mani- 
festly known to the Inhabitants of that Province, and 
Persons of other Provinces, and is upon record in his 
Majestie's Council Court held for the Province. 4to Dedi- 
cation 2, and pp i6. London : Printed and are to be sold 
by E. Whitlook near Staiioners-Hall. 1698. 

Many interesting pages might be written of the early 
church in New Castle. We learn from records, that as 
early as 1704 the meeting-house was so old it was 
ordered sold for 50s. ; and a vote was passed to build a 
new one. Here is a significant extract from the record 
of the first town meeting under the charter : The date 
is December 20, 1693 : It was called to be held in ye 



23 

meeting-house. Voted : "A gallery to be made in the 
lattermost end of the meeting-house for the women to 
sit in." 

We can trace the line of settled clergymen as far 
back as 1682. 

In the Congregational church there is a marble 
tablet bearing the following inscriptions : 

Rev. John Emerson died Jan. 21, 1732. Aged 62. 
Rev. William SiiERTLEFFdied May 9, 1747. Aged 58. 
Rev. John Blunt died Aug. 7, 1748. Aged 42. 
Rev. David Robinson died Nov. 18, 1749. Aged 2,Z' 
Rev. Stephen Chase died Jan. — 1778. Aged 72. 
Rev. Oliver Noble died Dec. 15, 1792. Aged -^6. 
Pastors of this Church. 
" The memory of the just is blessed." 

The absence of three other names — Moody, Wood- 
bridge, and Jourdon — all preceding Rev. John Emer- 
son in 1703, can be accounted for from the fact that 
when the tablet was erected in 1852, the early records 
had not been recovered. Of this list all were gradu- 
ates of Harvard College except Rev. Oliver Noble, 
who orraduated from Yale. One other name belongs 
on this tablet: that of Rev. Lucius Alden, who pre- 
sided over this church from 1846 to 1872. He exerted 
an influence on our generation that will cause his 
name to be long remembered. He was a direct 
descendant of John Alden, but never had the luck to 
be asked by any Priscilla to speak for himself. 

Mr. Alden was a graduate of Brown University. 



25 

The New Castle of to-day presents a strange contrast 
to that of a generation ago. No industry is now 
carried on here. Our citizens, for the most part em- 
ployed at the Navy Yard and in Portsmouth, enjoy a 
suburban residence in this quiet, historic town, very 
likely to the envy of our city neighbors, who some 
years ago discovered the natural attractions here pre- 
sented. New Castle shares, with fifty other places, the 
distinction of being "the prettiest spot on the coast." 

The decline of the fishing industry has left us 
an inheritance of picturesque bits of scenery that 
attract artists of reputation to our shores. One sum- 
mer school of art is now in session, and sketch clubs 
frequently visit us for a day. The sight of artists 
flitting about in gay colored costumes, carrying their 
" traps," or stationed before some newly discovered 
subject or " scheme of color," is as pleasing to us as 
to them the finished sketch. The exchange is fair. 
We enjoy their presence, are reluctant to their de- 
parture, and welcome their return. 

As a summer resort, New Castle has become known 
chiefly through the now famous Wentworth House, 
situated one mile from the village, by the "outalong" 
road, on the high bluff by the shores of Litde Harbor. 
Under the able management of Mr. William K. Hill, 
its appointments within and without have been made 
perfect, and its large patronage, that of the class 
appreciating metropolitan comfort and luxury at the 
seashore. A veranda fifteen feet broad extends around 
the house, from which there is an unobstructed horizon 
view^ of over twenty miles. And such a variety of 
scenery ! The immediate surroundings of beautiful 



26 



lawns, terraces, and groves ; the lagoon and island- 
dotted Pool, but lead the eye in silent enjoyment to 
Pavvtuckaway and Saddleback mountains, and the Blue 
Hills of Strafford looking upon us from afar. On clear 
days, even Mt. Washington may be seen from the 
towers, ninety miles away to the north. Nearer, but 
in the same direction, are Kittery Foreside, the Navy 
Yard, and Mt. Agamenticus, the throne of the great 
sagamore, Passaconaway. On the northeast you look 
clown on the mouth of the " gay Piscataqua," our 
compact village on the south bank, flanked by Fort 
Constitution and the old Walbach Martello tower. 
On the other side of the river are Kittery Point, the 
home of Sir William Pepperell, Gerrish Island (con- 
taining the cairn of the royal Champernowne), and the 
long broken coast of Maine. East is the Atlantic 
ocean and Isles of Shoals six miles distant. Looking 
southeast you see Ipswich bay, enclosed by the long, 
slender arm of Cape Ann. In the bend of Ipswich 
bay are the Rye and Hampton beaches, six and ten 
miles away. Coming nearer, are Odiorne's Point, the 
site of Mason Hall, — the first building erected in New 
Hampshire — and Frost's Point. In front of the hotel 
and between these two points, is Little Harbor, on 
whose bank, at its confluence with Sagamore creek, is 
situated the famous water-side residence of Gov. 
Benning Wentworth, celebrated in song and story. 

New Castle points with pride to the record of its Life- 
saving Station, manned almost wholly by her citizens. 
The station, situated on Jerry's Point, was built by the 
government in 1887, ^^ ^ cost of $5,000, and equipped 
at an equal expense. It was manned in February, 



27 



1 888, with seven men under Capt. Silas H. Harding, 
still in charge, and during its five years of service has 
won the honorable position " No. i Station " on the 
government books at Washington, both in point of 
successful assistance and in the discipline of the crew. 
In Captain Harding the government has found the 
right man for the right place. His whole time and 




Life-Saving Station. 

thought are devoted to the improvement and per- 
fection of the service. Every man of the crew is a 
typical sailor ; he is agile, courageous, and courteous, 
with a strong love for humanity in his big heart. 

The life-boat has been manned and assistance ren- 
dered forty-four times ; and sixteen persons have been 
taken from wrecks. In several instances, vessels sail- 
ing under the British Hag have been assisted. 



28 



For heroism in saving the crew of a vessel wrecked 
in the November gale of 1888, each member of the 
station crew was awarded, by special act of congress, 
a gold medal valued at $125. A continuous watch is 
maintained from September i to April i, and at night, 
the coast from the station to Fort Point is patrolled by 
the life-savers. The crew of 1892-3 consisted of 
Capt. Silas H. Harding, Wm. L. Flynn, T. H. Barber, 
Isaac Gillis, E. S. Hall, Ernest Robinson, Esrom 
Corkum, Chas. Prohaska. 



ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 

BY MR. FRED HELL, 
Chairman of Board of Selecimen. 

Mr. Chairman, l,adies and Gentlemen : The anticipated pleasure of this 
occasion (to nie at least) has been impaired by the thought that I must perform 
the initiatory act Of this, the two hundredth anniversary of our incorporation as 
a town under a royal charter granted to the men and inhabitants of this place 
by king and queen, William and Mary of old England in 1693. 

And we meet here to-day to commemorate that important event : and, "^ Mr. 
Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, as chairman of the selectmen, and in the name 
of the residents of this town, I thank you for your presence here to-day on this 
occasion, and bid you one and all a hearty welcome ; and with a few changes in 
the phraseology of .Samuel Woodworth's " Old Oaken Bucket," may we all say 

" How dear to this heart are the scenes of our childhood, 
When the bright light of day presents them to view: 
The ocean, the ledges, the deep tangled wildwood, 
And every loved spot that our infancy knew." 

Again bidding you welcome, I will now introduce the chairman of the executive 
committee, Mr. John Albee. 



ADDRESS BY MR. JOHN ALBEE, 

Chairman of the Executive Committee. 

Our celebration to-day is happily coincident with the Columbian year, and our 
little local history extends over rather more than half the Columbian period. 
To-day a procession of two hundred and fifty years moves past us, to be remem- 
bered, to be saluted and honored. Generation after generation has come and 
gone ; this day they assemble, reunited and complete. Not a single one of the 
sons and daughters of New Castle is absent. They pass by pale and speechless, 
but all are remembered, and I seem to see them return our salute with a smile 
of recognition and gratitude. 

Their annals are brief but in no way obscure. They lived plainly ; they wrote 
clearly and concisely their own story, and acted with integrity and intelligence 
in their public and private stations. All that to-day we behold living and flour- 
ishing is, in nameless ways, derived from them. Theirs, too, are the ruins we 
find everywhere on this Island ; and could we call up from the deep the unnum- 
bered vessels in which they sailed over all seas, the picture of their activities 
would be complete. 

Hail, ancient town ! Island home of so many brave, unpolished, stalwart 
mariners, fishermen, and soldiers ! 

IIe(6 was gathered together the first community in New Hampshire that 
could be called, with any historical propriety, a community ; that organized it- 
self on the basis of law and religion, and furnished itself with the outward sym- 
bols of the provincial civilization — a small fort, or Castle, as they loved to call 
it — a church, within the Castle enclosure, a watch-tower, prison and stocks, sev- 
eral inns, and one after another all the equipments of village order which we 
inherit, and to which we have not added a single one. Indeed we have lost 
some and only changed the operation of others. Can you believe that by the 
mere act of incorporation, in 1693, this town sprang, full-fledged, into being.' 
Not at all. It had been settled more than fifty years, and was, in fact, a place of 
more importance before incorporation than it has been at any similar period 
since ; so that, although we celebrate to-day a bi-centennial, we distinguish 
rather a formal than an actual event. 

The reason why this place became the first community of any importance in 
New Hampshire, is not far to seek. It was due to its environment. Its popula- 
tion was necessarily concentrated within very narrow boundaries, — boundaries 
which the eye here meets in every direction, the bays, the river and ocean, until 
the Island is reduced to less than one square mile ; and mainly over a few acres 
of this, along the margin of the river, the town arose. Its business was on the 
water, not agricultural. For this it required little room ashore ; room it found 



ill abundance when its citizens lifted the anchor, spread the sail, and ploughed 
furrow whose crop was codfish, rum, and molasses. Our ancestors set their 
houses near together; consequently they sooner needed regulations for the pro- 
tection of their separate interests than rural and sparse communities. More- 
over, this concentration of houses and population, although requiring more 
minute policy regulations — and in these the Castilians were excessively punctil- 
ious — led naturally to a closer and more definite community of interests in 
affairs of greater importance than the garden wall and the height of the chim- 
ney. 

Here first in the history of New Hampshire, in consequence of close neigh- 
borhood, came into being and exercise that terror and safeguard of our later 
civilization, public opinion. Public opinion was the whole of the law and nearly 
of the gospel on Great Island at a very early date. Its quaint, first and very 
significant name was the " Town's Mind." At a very early date we had a public 
opinion on the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay; on witchcraft, on royal gover- 
nors, on taxes, and the Mason claims ; and within our rocky shores, on the 
actions of every man and woman; on pigs, salt fish, and staves, and on all the 
details of daily life. Many of these found a formal, and often pragmatic expres- 
sion in our ancient documents. 

But I must not trespass on the time and topics of the orator of this occasion. 
Because New Castle is a small island, called in early times Great Island, in 
comparison to its twenty companions near by, because of the concentration of 
its inhabitants and their long seclusion, its whole history is unique, picturesque, 
and romantic beyond that of any New England town known to me. If any one 
accuses the local historian of using too much color on his palette, let him study 
our annals and himself become identified with the town for a number of years, 
and he will become aware how really faint and imperfect is the picture. 

Local hfstory is the only important history. In it we come nearer to human 
life, to man, than in that of empires. Study and interest in it is the source of 
most civic virtues. It is most fitting, therefore, that we should celebrate its 
anniversaries, not only for our own enlightenment and inspiration, but in grateful 
remembrance of our forefathers. If I may be allowed to moralize, I should say 
that local interest, the love of our own town, and the people among whom God 
has appointed us to dwell, is, after the great commandment, the beginning of 
wisdom. 

The tides come in, and return again whence they came. As they come in, they 
fill every nook and cranny m rock and sand. No spot is forgotten, no shore 
unrefreshed. I suppose no drop of water complains that it must fill some empty 
shell, or visit some obscure shore and float the boat of an humble fisherman. 
It knows that it will soon return and become a portion of the infinite sea, an 
equal sharer in all its grandeur and power. So it is with man. Without his 
will he is borne on the tides of life to some destined or wholly accidental shore, 
where without glory or reward he must fill well the place and the duty he finds 
awaiting him, comforted and sustained by the thought that the same tide which 
bore him hither will soon restore him to the great central sea of being, where, it 
is said, if he has been faithful over a few things he will become lord over many. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 



J 

By frank warren HACKETT. 



We are met together amid surroundings of no common or ordinary kind. 
One has only to look about him to see that here is a region where Nature in 
bestowing her wondrous gift of beauty has held not back her hand. Below us 
a noble river pours its tide into the Atlantic. Yonder are the Isles of Shoals, 
while here and there against the sky is to be discerned the white sail of some 
passing vessel. Uo we turn inland, the eye rests upon a varied expanse of 
water, land, and distant hill, — a picture such as artists love to paint. Close at 
hand is a snug, little village, smiling with every sign of thrift and comfort. 
Well may we e.xclaim, " Lo, a goodly land, that is fair to look upon." 

We are at this moment occupying a spot fertile in historic incident. We 
stand upon soil early dedicated to the art of war. For more than two cen- 
turies and a half (save during certain seasons of neglect), cannon planted 
here have guarded the harbor entrance of the Pascataqua ; or, as the Indian, 
with an ear for the rich music of the word, pronounced it, — the Pas-ca-/<?/;- 
qua. To-day these walls of massive granite, but half completed, and these 
huge, unplaced blocks tell of an ambitious project to sweep beyond the lines 
of an old fortification, and build a new one of grand proportions. It was the 
fierce struggle of inventive skill and genius, as applied to the problem of guns 
afloat and guns on shore, that arrested the enterprise, and of a sudden con- 
verted a scene of busy engineering into the stillness of death and decay. But 
these ruins, we may believe, are for a time only. They presage the rising of a 
stronghold that shall protect and endure, even as the citadel of our liberties 
whose name it shall bear, the Constitution. 

We are here to greet with festivity and gladness the recurrence of this 
day. Two hundred long and eventful years of the chartered life of the town 
of New Castle have run their course. In 1693, William and Mary, of their 
especial grace, granted to their beloved subjects, men and inhabitants of 
Great Island, including Little Harbor and what is now Rye (then Sandy 
Beach), to be a town corporate by the name of New Castle. The royal char- 
ter passed the seal of the Province on the 30th day of May of that year. The 
town was to pay an annual quit-rent of one peppercorn, on the five and twen- 
tieth day of October, forever. On the 4th of August, 1693, ^^^ Council of 
3 



34 



the Province granted leave for an election ; but the first town meeting was 
not held till the 20th of December, following. 

As a happy medium between these respective dates, this seventeenth 
day of August has been set apart to commemorate our anniversary. 

We possess records of the town, at periods somewhat defective, that come 
down to the present hour. The two earliest books once after some myste- 
rious fashion wandered off across the ocean (how many years ago no one 
seems able to tell), but, like the prodigal, they repented and came home 
again, to get a warm welcome in 1S73. Every son and daughter of New 
Castle can look through these pages with a feeling that goes some ways be- 
yond complacency, and borders very closely upon pride. If there be little 
here recorded that has much affected the great world outside, there is on the 
other hand nothing to be ashamed of. No! If a hardy, resolute, and ener- 
getic people, such as have held this island from the first, may not in the 
course of two hundred years have accomplished something that deserves to 
be remembered, something for the cause of human progress, something to 
make the world better for their having lived in it, where else are we to look 
for annals worthy of preservation ? 

While New Castle as a town has attained the respectable age of two hun- 
dred years, the first settlement here lays claim to a date, sixty or possibly even 
seventy years earlier. In the spring of 1623, a staunch little ship, the Jona- 
thaii, of Plymouth, England, cast anchor off yonder point, then called by the 
Indians " Pannaway," now known as Odiorne's Point, in the town of Rye. She 
brought from Plymouth Mr. David Thomson, with twelve or fifteen men, to 
begin a plantation. They built a strong and large house of stone, enclosed it 
with palisades, and mounted guns within, as a protection against the Indians. 
Under an agreement with Plymouth merchants, they had come to engage in 
the fisheries, to traffic in furs, and to build up a colony. Thomson's wife 
came over with him, or followed in a later vessel. It was the first settlement 
of what is now the state of New Hampshire. A granite shaft ought to mark 
the spot. It would stand on ancient territory of the town of New Castle. 

There has recently been brought to light a manuscript description of New 
England, written about 1660 by Samuel Maverick, who settled in 1624, 
at Winnisimmet, now Chelsea. Maverick was a friend of Thomson's, and the 
two must have interchanged visits. About 1626, Thomson moved to Boston 
Bay, where he soon after died. The widow afterwards was married to Maverick. 
From this source we learn that Thomson, " haveing granted by Patent ail the 
Island bordering on this land to the Midle of the River, he tooke possession 
of an Island comonly called the great Island." So we know that this terri- 
tory where we now are came into the possession of Englishmen in 1623. 
Whether any house was built here for permanent occupation at so early a 
date, is a matter of conjecture ; but that Great Island was then in some way 
occupied, we can feel assured. 

Thomson was doubtless acting in the interest of Gorges and Mason. The 
plantation, we may believe, was continued after its founder had left it. In 
1630, and during the two or three following years, the Little Harbor settle- 
ment was increased by the coming of stewards and servants, to the number 



35 



of fifty men or more, with their faniiiies, sent out by Captain John Mason. 
Some of them went up the river, where they built the Great House 
at the Hanke, — that is, at Portsmouth, near what is now Court and 
Water streets. Others went further up to Newichawanneck — now South 
Berwick. To the site where we are assembled Captain Walter Neal, who 
was a soldier, and the leader of the band of newcomers, brought cannon, 
some of which were of brass. Here he planted them, and here he built a 
strong and substantial work, to command the ri\er. To this they gave the 
name of Fort Point. 

For a i^eriod of nearly half a century Great Island maintained the lead, 











'^<*'» ' ^ 



Ui..iUji..\. I, OK Mrs. Lli. ,.[.>.,,. i.l,...,. 



both in numbers and activity, of the settlements upon this river ; and it long 
remained the place of chiefest importance. Nor is this to be wondered at. 
Not that the soil was superior — rather the contrary ; but here fishing could 
with most convenience be carried on. Here, too, was security against sudden 
incursion from hostile savages. Then, again, it is to be remembered that 
most of the adventurers were west of England men. They came from 
Cornwall, and from Devon. They loved the sea; they loved to be near it. 
Strong affection for the familiar scenes of the home they had left may have 
exercised a controlling influence in the choice they were now to make. The 
settler may well have preferred to cast in his lot at a place where daily he 



36 



could look out over the ocean, ready to catch the first glimpse of a sail that 
should bring tidings from " merrie England." 

To this subtle attraction of the element so potent to shape the life of him 
that once yields to it, your own poet-historian, Mr. Albee, alludes, with a deli- 
cacy of touch that is the pervading charm of his valuable little book. 
" Fond local attachment," he truly says, " belongs to dwellers by the sea. Nor 
can they be happy away from their boundless horizon." ^ 

Travel at that primitive day was accomplished almost exclusively by water. 
The river was a highway. A ferry was early established to the main land, 
but scarcely any one here went on horseback. So late as 1680, in a tax-list of 
fifty-seven estates, one finds only three horses owned upon Great Island. One 
was the property of George Walton, Senior ; the other two belonged to Der- 
mont Usher. 

The first grant of land upon Great Island, so far as we now know, bears 
the date of October, 1637.- Vines, Jocelyn, and Warnerton, as agents of 
Gorges and Mason, lease, at an annual rent of two shillings, a neck of land 
lying upon the north-west side of the island, of about one hundred acres, 
commonly called Muskito Hall,^ to Francis Mathews, and his heirs, for the 
teim of one thousand years. If Mr. Mathews had cherished the purpose of 
conferring upon his descendants the privilege of living upon an estate thus 
agreeably described with the opportunity for active enjoyment that its name 
implies, all at the rate of two shillings a year, — he was doomed to a speedy 
disappointment, for the land soon passed into other hands. 

One wishes that we might be furnished with some particulars in regard to 
these first settlers of New Castle. You would like, I dare say, to ascertain in 
just what part of the town this or that remote ancestor of yours had his home 
lot. What were the incidents that befell him in the round of his simple yet 
stirring life ? 

The records to which we would naturally resort for light upon this 
interesting period, have been destroyed. You will be surprised, when I tell 
you that they perished, not from fire, or by accident, but at the hands of the 
selectmen of the town. 

One winter's night, five men met at a tavern (or ordinary, as it was then 
called) kept by George Walton, who had come here, a fisherman, from New- 
foundland. The party had with them a volume containing the accumulated 
records of perhaps seventeen or eighteen years of the infancy of the settle- 

1 New Castle, Historic and Picturesque, by John Albee (Boston, 1884), page 4. 

- The salt-marsh around the head of Sagamore Creek early invited occupation. Mr. 
Francis Williams, chosen governor under a combination for local self-government, which 
had been entered into about 1633 by Great Island, Little Harbor, and Strawberry Banke, 
]ived on the "Salt Creek." So at least I infer from the record of a deed made by him in 
1645. For faithful services as a factor of Mason, a large grant upon Sanders Point had been 
made to Ambrose Gibbens in 1632. We may safely set down Sanders Point as the earliest 
English name that has been preserved in this region. It applies to the neck of land upon 
which the bridge from the Wentworth touches, at its further end. 

s Later called Wotton's Neck. I find it described as Muskito Hall, in court records, as 
late as 1829. To-day the name is applied to a narrow stretch of water in that vicinity. 



37 



ment. Slowly they turned over leaf after leaf of this book, and marked here 
and there an entry that they thought worth preserving. The rest they crossed 
out. They voted (for they were the selectmen) to begin a new book of 
records, into which the town clerk should copy such entries as they had 
approved. 'J'he old book thus dishonored they threw aside. This transaction 
took ])lace on the night of the 13th January, 1652. 

^Vllat became of that old town-book, no one knows. It is enough to say 
that our earliest records at Portsmouth start in 1652, — the result of that 
night's work at Walton's inn. The entries copied from the old first-book are 
few and meagre. i 

Time does not admit of my entering upon an explanation of this strange 
act. It was no secret conclave of conspirators. The leading men of the 
town in an official capacity were carrying into execution a carefully concerted 
plan. Suffice it here to say that the procedure was in strict conformity with 
the methods by which Massachusetts Bay had seized upon this region, and 
with a rigid hand maintained her jurisdiction. The story of usurpation is all 
the more difficult to unravel, for the very reason that the Bay authorities did 
not scruple to make use of the records for their own purposes, nor hesitate to 
malign those who stood in their path^ . Until recently New Hampshire 
history has been written from the standpoint of the Puritan. Perhaps 
nothing more readily reminds us what that standpoint was, than certain 
familiar resolutions, with which you are very familiar: 

Resolved, That the saints shall inherit the earth. 

Resolved, That we are the saints. 

It is in no spirit of controversy that I speak of the intolerant traits of 
character tliat prevailed among the very worthy leaders who governed our 
neighboring colony, and were willing to govern us. These men acted 
according to the light that they had. If they actually believed that a man 
here who happened to think otherwise than they did, could do so only at the 
instigation of the devil, we of to-day can stretch out the hand of forgiveness. 
But the truth of history is to be zealously sought for, and when found, as 
zealously defended. We may rejoice that a new era has opened before us. 
The asperity and the rank injustice that marks the pen of the Puritan 
chronicler is largely shorn of its power for mischief, now that the sources upon 
which it drew for inspiration are understood and duly estimated. 

The prevailing religion among those who first settled here, was that of the 
Church of England. Mr. Albee has, I think, very satisfactorily shown that 
there must have been a church here soon after 1640, at which the Reverend 
Robert Jourdan ministered. Little by little, however, the Puritan faith made 

1 Of late, England h.is seen a revival of interest in early records, and the kingdom is being 
searched to discover old documents and papers. The cheapness with which printing can 
now be done, and the increase in number of those who aim to preserve historic material, both 
in England and America, combine to make it probable that some originals may yet be 
brought to light that belong to the annals of our early settlements here. It is by no means 
unlikely, therefore, that by the next centenary a more accurate and minute account of the 
inhabitants of Great Island, at their first coming here, can be laid before the audience then to 
he assembled, than is possible at the present day. 



39 



headway, until at last church worship was abandoned here, and people went 
to meeting at the Banke. As the town taxed everybody to support the 
minister, the location of the meeting-house came to play an important part in 
the life of the town. It was no slight undertaking, especially in winter, to 
row against wind and tide to Portsmouth. There, on the hill below the south 
mill bridge, stood a building, described as "of sixty feet by thirty with 
galleries, a low belfry and a bell, the windows with diamond panes set in 
lead." Alongside of it were a cage, and a pillory and stocks. To Mr. 
Nathaniel Fryer, of Great Island, had been accorded the privilege of building 
next door to the meeting-house, a little cabin, wherein the Fryer family 
doubtless found it convenient to "fix up," before facing the congregation. 

In the many attempts to gain a right to be set off as a separate parish 
(which eventually resulted in the incorporation of New Castle) one argument 
pressed by the petitioners was the great hazard and danger of getting their 
families to meeting. To this Portsmouth neatly rejoined : " We have never 
heard and hope never shall of any lives lost in attempts to come to meeting. 
If at any time there should be any danger of that, they well know mercy is to 
be preferred before sacrifice." 

Candor compels the admission that a good deal of staying away from 
meeting on the Lord's Day was practised in the olden time upon this island. 

Nehemiah Partridge, it seems, had a servant named Robert (never mind 
his family name), whose predilections in this regard have gone into our public 
archives. Robert stands confessed of record, not only of having a vacant 
seat charged up against him on several successive Sabbaths, but on "the 
Sabbath before last Sabbath [so the record runs] he did eat part of two pigs 
that were roasted at Christopher Kenneston's." The pigs had been stolen, 
but Robert was not accused of being privy to that enormity. Robert's offence 
consisted of profanation of the Sabbath, and absenting himself from Mr. 
Partridge's service. Upon examination before the Worshipful Richard 
Martyn, of the Council, Robert got sentenced to be publicly whipped upon 
his naked body nine stripes. Could his Honor have looked down the vista of 
a century and a half, and caught the full flavor of Charles Lamb's disserta- 
tion upon this subject (I do not mean the subject of staying away from meet- 
ing — but of roast pig), his sense of judicial duty could scarcely have been 
tempered with more mercy ; for the court suspended execution until Robert 
should again neglect his master's service, or profane the Sabbath, — " then 
forthwith to be whip])ed with nine stripes, as above." 

It is but a step from the meeting-house to the school-house. We do not 
underestimate here in New Castle the importance of giving to our boys and 
girls a good, plain, common-school education. That this policy was early 
determined upon, is apparent from the records. 

In March, 1669, the town voted that "a piece of land at Cireat Island, not 
exceeding an acre, be sequestered to build a school-house on, and that a school 
be built on it at the towne's charge, the selectmen Captain Pendleton and 
Mr. Dering to see it done." The house was accordingly built, and on the 
9th May, 1672, liberty was granted to Nicholas Hogkins to swing his ferule 
within its walls. With your permission, I will read Master Hogkins' letter 



40 



of application for this office. It will serve to remind us that the art of pre- 
paring one's own recommendation is of no recent origin. We shall also see 
what happy work that gentleman made of it. 

" To the Inhabitants of Portsmouth 

" Nicholas Hogkins humbly deaclareth That being by the ordination and 
providence of God a resident upon the Great Island about 15 months and 
affecting ye public benefit of ye unlarned and untaught youth heare or adja- 
cent do by your favourable permission countenance and choyce intend to ex- 
ercise myself in teching those arts with which God hath betrusted me and 
with which I may for future be endowed hearby manifesting my respect to 
obedience of and complyance with the laws and orders of this place either 
sacred or civill and endevowing to manifest myself Yo Reall servant 

" Nicho Hogkins." 

On the 15th March, 1674, is the entry that " upon motion made by Widow 
Lock to live in the school house on the Great Island in order to the teaching 
of children to read and sow have granted her desire." 

The jurisdiction assumed by the Bay Colony over us, lasted from 1641 to 
1679. Forty years of a strong government had wrought a wide-spread change 
in the condition and the sentiments of the people. Those who were Puritans 
(some of whom had come here from the Bay) were aggressive and united, 
backed as they were by the authorities. They alone held the offices, and they 
had gradually got possession of the land. The Church of England party 
little by little was pushed to one side ; a few yielded, and ranged themselves 
with the dominant faction. 

Upon the restoration of the king to his throne, the opponents of the union 
with Massachusetts sought redress of their many grievances. Mason's heirs 
had all along been active against the encroachments of the Bay. To adjust 
these, and other difficulties, and to capture New Netherland from the Dutch, 
a fleet of four vessels of war was sent over, with a small force of soldiers. 
Four royal commissioners accompanied the expedition. On the 20th July, 
1664, two ships, the Rlartin^ and the William and Nicholas put into this har- 
bor. They remained at anchor for a day or two, and then sailed for the ren- 
dezvous at Long Island. They took New Netherland, now New York; but 
the commission accomplished nothing in the way of curbing the power of the 
Bay Colony. The next year three of the commissioners visited Portsmouth, 
where some of the people had signed petitions, saying that the Massachu- 
setts had usurped power, and that they were kept from open opposition by 
fear of fine and imprisonment. 

It is a long but a deeply interesting story. I have time only to say that of 
the strong adherents to the policy of separation, a few lived here at New 
Castle. 

At last, after a struggle of many years' duration, the union of the two colo- 
nies was dissolved by order of the king. New Hampshire was erected into 
a royal province, under a president and six councillors, with an assembly of 
eleven deputies. The commission was sealed iS September, 1679. Guns 



41 



were fired here upon receipt of the tidings. John Cutt was appointed presi- 
dent ; Martyn, \'aughan, and Daniel of Portsmouth, Oilman of Exeter, Hus- 
sey of Hampton, and Waldron of Dover, were named as the council. .Singu- 
lar to state, they were every one a firm friend of the Bay Colony. President 
Cutt lived but a year after taking office. Waldron succeeded him for a short 
term, when there came upon the stage one of the most restless, strong-willed, 
and zealous representatives of royal authority that ever crossed the Atlantic. 
Edward Cranfield, — who, as his renmins lie buried in the cathedral at Bath, 
probably came from Somerset — is, upon the whole, the most interesting histor- 
ical personage to whom New Castle may lay claim. Here he lived during the 




RLalDl.NCl. Ol I, ...1. A. 11. Wlllll. 



entire term of his brief service as governor. From almost the day of his arri- 
val he succeeded in plunging our little province into a state of turmoil and 
excitement, of which this immediate locality was the centre. 

Great Island was the court end of the capital of the province. Here, with 
the advent of the provincial government, sat the council, and here the assem- 
bly met. Here, too, the courts of justice tried offenders, and they were kept 
busy at the work. Here was the jail. The house of Captain Stileman had 
been devoted to that purpose, and the new governor found opportunity to 
make not a few leading citizens acquainted with its interior. We came 
near having a portrait of His Majesty, King Charles, the Second, together 



42 



with the royal arms, set up here in fine style, only it so happened that the 
vessel on which they had been shipped never reached her destination, and 
the province had to get along without them. 

Robert Mason asserted the right of collecting quit-rents of the landholders, 
in virtue of the patent to his grandfather. Captain John Mason. This claim 
had all along been bitterly resisted. Mason mortgaged the province to Cran- 
field for twenty-one years, to secure to Cranfield the payment of ;^i5o for 
seven years. Mason was made a councillor, and afterwards chancellor. 
Cranfield's commission as lieutenant-governor passed the seals gth May, 1682. 
By another commission from the Duke of York he was made vice-admiral, 
judge, register, and marshal of the admiralty, with power to appoint substi- 
tutes. Upon Cranfield far greater powers were conferred than had been 
given to his predecessors. 

Sailing from Plymouth in the frigate Lark, he was nearly seven weeks 
reaching this coast. The ship put into Salem harbor, ist October, 16S2. The 
royal governor hurried overland to Portsmouth, where he arrived on the 3d. 
He was quick and alert. Early the next morning he set about the duty of 
officially announcing his presence. He took the oath, swore in his council, 
and issued a proclamation. The Lark soon made her appearance. She 
stayed here till early in January. The governor at first established quarters 
at the house of Captain Walter Barefoote. Afterwards, he went to live at 
that very attractive spot, the Jaffrey house, a mansion that we pray may stand 
as sturdily for years to come as it has for more than two centuries past. 

Time forbids my dwelling upon the many commotions that swiftly followed 
each other in Cranfield's administration : the dismissal of the assembly, the 
Jaffrey affair, the Mason land suits, the imprisonment of the Reverend Joshua 
Mood}', the rebellion at Hampton, and the conviction and awful sentence of 
its ring-leader, Gove, for the crime of treason. Upon complaint made to the 
king, an arrangement was at last effected by which Cranfield withdrew in 
1685, and later retired to the Barbadoes, where for some years he faithfully 
served his royal master. 

All these events have, as the expression goes, passed into history, though 
as that history has been to a large extent written by clergymen opposed to 
the Episcopal faith, its statements will bear certain qualifications. New 
Hampshire owes to Jeremy Belknap a debt of gratitude for a work that in 
point of purity of style has nowhere been excelled. We can see that as a 
historian the writer tried to be impartial in narrating facts, to be just in stat- 
ing conclusions, and charitable in imputing motives. When treating of Cran- 
field, however. Dr. Belknap does not stop at moderately emphatic terms of 
disapproval. " Vindictive," " cruel," " deceitful," " malicious," and other like 
adjectives are freely employed to denote the warmth of the historian's denun- 
ciation. "Cranfield's hypocrisy," he tells us, "is detestable." 

One can scarcely dismiss a suspicion, that could the historian of New 
Hampshire return to-day in the flesh for the purpose of revising what he 
wrote more than a century ago, he would soften, at least some of these ex- 
pressions. Dr. Belknap, it is proper to explain, had no access to the other side 
of the controversy. Letters written at the time and dispatched to England by 



43 



Cranfield, are now before us in print, — thanks to the energy and the liberality 
of a worthy son of Portsmouth, the late John Scribner Jenness. 

Cranfield, it is plain to see, was hot-headed and stubborn. He wofully 
lacked tact. He utterly failed to enter into the tone and temper of the people 
he had undertaken to govern. It may l)e that personally his manners were 
not agreeable, for he had not in his nature a particle of conciliation. Pos- 
sibly it is true that he was disappointed at not making out of the office the 
money upon which he had counted. But like many an unpopular occupant of 
public station, Cranfield has been made to carry a heavy load of charges, for 
a part of which he is not justly responsible. 




Kesu 



Some day this striking episode in New Hampshire history will be written 
anew. Facts, some of them not heretofore consulted, will be thoroughly 
sifted. A picture will be drawn of those turbulent times, which shall do 
even-handed justice to all the actors, chiefest of whom is Cranfield. New 
Castle will furnish the background of the picture. The canvas stands ready 
for the artist. 

As though the good people here had not had their fill of e.xcitement, 
another kind of agitation occurred in Cranfield's day, that must have gone 
nigh to turning the island completely upside down. I refer to a stone-throw- 






45 



ing devil, who played his pranks on the premises of our old friend, George 
Walton. Luckily for posterity (who always want an authentic account of the 
marvellous), the Secretary of the Province, Mr. Richard Chamberlain, lodged 
and took his meals at Walton's, l^eing an " ocular witness " and handy with 
the pen, Mr. Chamberlain was thoughtful enough to set down then and there 
an account of these violent activities, with the whizzings and snortings that 
accompanied the same. When Mr. Chamberlain went back to England, he 
gave to the world a little book, printed at London in i6g8, and entitled 
" Lithobolia." It is a famous little book now. Cotton Mather heard of 
what was going on here, and he also has embalmed it in literature, written in 
his well known simple and lucid style ! 

Tremendous as was the event, it bore a character strictly local. The 
brickbats and the hammers, the pewter pots, and sundry other articles con- 
venient for missiles, were hurled about nowhere else than within the boundary 
lines of Mr. Walton's real estate. Here, however, they freely circulated. 
Inasmuch as the demonstration had assumed a concrete form at a time when 
people were just recovering from the effects of a great fiery-tailed star, that 
had been blazing in the heavens, some of the wiser heads were sure that the 
devil, the comet, and Governor Cranfield had solemnly entered into an unholy 
league for the purpose of terrifying and harassing the Province of New 
Hampshire. 

We of a later generation have reason to be proud of our stone-throwing 
visitor. To be sure, his name never got upon the tax-list, but we know that 
he stayed long enough in town to entitle him — if not to vote, — at least for 
ever after to hail from New Castle. No other incorporated community in the 
land (or in Europe either for the matter of that) can match us in this peculiar 
line. Moreover, though twice at least the black cat of witchcraft showed 
itself within our territory, it has left behind it, thank God, no stain of the 
gallows. 

What single date may hope to awaken in us at this hour so lively an 
interest as that of the year 1693.' The event distinguishing that year above 
the rest, we pay honor to by these commemorative exercises. All of us, I dare 
say, would like to know what the town of New Castle looked like just after it 
had been born. It is safe to say that it must have had every appearance of 
being a healthy child. I am admonished, however, that your patience has 
been taxed to such an extent by my attempt to bring before you some 
conception of how they started off in 1623 with their infant settlement, that 
there is really very little time left us to look at the infant town.' 

As for the christening, I am inclined to agree with Mr. Albee. He is good 
at guessing. This time I think he has hit the mark. The fort, as we know, 

' From records of the North Church, Portsmouth, we know that in 1692 the families in the 
parish numbered 231 : at Strawberry Banke, 120 ; at Greenland, 68; at Great Island, 43, — 
the families south of Sagamore Creek being classed with Greenland. The census of 1890 
gives us a total of 488. In 1773 our numbers were 601. The highest figure, I think, that 
New Castle has ever attained, is 932, in the census of 1820. In 1880 the town had 610 
inhabitants. Several towns in Rockingham county show a decrease of population in the last 
decade. One thing is sure ; we are to-day escaping the evils of a redundant population. 



46 



was not infrequently termed the castle. It cost the rate-payers a pretty penny, 
too, to keep it in a state of what may be called " warlike posture." To judge 
from the frequency with which the subject figures in council and assembly 
records, the fort must have been always either actually undergoing repairs, or 
else deplorably in need of them. 

It so happened, while our chief men were nearing the goal of their hopes, 
in their efforts to bring about a sej^aration from Portsmouth, that a good deal 
was going on at the fort or castle in the way of making it as good as new. 
We can accept this plausible explanation, in default of a better. 

The first town meeting was held on the 20th of December, 1693, '" ^^^ '^^^ 
meeting-house that stood near the fort.^ The honorable office of selectmen 
was conferred upon John Clark, James Randall, and Francis Tucker. John 
Leach was chosen constable.^ 

The limits of the present address do not admit of my entering into the 
details of our political town history. That is a subject that deserves to be 
treated by itself. Ample materials for a sketch, instructive as well as enter- 
taining, are at hand in our local records. 

The town-meeting is justly admired as the nursery and the conservatory of 
our liberties. The true democratic instinct here enjoys free, natural play. 
Every man meets his neighbor on a plane of equality, to discuss and decide 
questions of local concern. So far from being a mass of dry, dead matter, of 
no practical use to this busy age of ours, the recorded proceedings of our 
early town-meetings have much to teach us, illustrating as they do the steady 
growth and development, in its primary stage, of the foundation principles of 
self-government. Let me then invite your attention to the urgent need that 
exists for doing all that is to-day possible to put your town records into proper 
shape. The record that begins in February, 1756, ends abruptly on page 46 
with the proceedings of a meeting 26th January, 1767. There are entries 
thereafter of meetings from iSoo to 1807, together with many pages of mar- 
riages and births. It can hardly be that one or two more books were not 
kept of the records from 1766 to 1800. These books maybe in existence 
somewhere in the neighborhood. Let search be made for them. There are 
loose papers of various dates covering this period. They should be carefully 
examined and classified, ready to be copied into a book, if we do not find the 
missing volumes. 

I regret to add that from 1856 to 1S65 the records also are missing. Let us 
hope that these defects shall be remedied at as early a day as possible. 

I feel, too, upon this occasion, that I may fitly urge you to guard these 
town books against all possible danger of future loss. Do not let it come to 
pass that fire destroy them. Not to you alone who live here ; or to those 
whose lot it was to have been born here, are these old records of value. 
They are precious, and as the years pass, they will have grown more precious 
to thousands scattered over the country, who can trace back some ancestral 
tie that reaches New Castle. 

- Albee, page 136. 

2In 1793 the selectmen were Henry Prescotl, George Frost, and John Tarlton. In 1893, 
they are Fred Bell, Ambrose Card, and Charles H. Becker. 



47 



To the foresight of some of our good townspeople do we owe it that the 
town has a transcript of the oldest book. This admits of the copy being 
deposited for safe keeping at a distance from the original. It is a wise pre- 
caution, — a kindness to posterity. Let the school children visit these records, 
and learn from them a lesson in history. Let us all look upon these pages 
as so many visible links binding us to the past. They who lived here two 
hundred years ago were not all old people (as one is apt carelessly to assume), 
but men, women, and children, of every age and condition. We simply 
have stepped forward to take their places. Soon we too will be gone. Let 
not the ancestor be totally forgotten upon the soil where once there smiled 
for him a happy home. 

The first hundred years of the town, almost co-e.xistent with the eighteenth 
century itself, brought in their train a varied fortune. The peaceful pursuits 
were the fisheries, or voyages along the coast, or to the West Indies. There 
were serious troubles with the Indians, and wars with the French, when New 
Castle manned the forts — (there had been a fort also at Jaffrey's point as 
early as 1665,)^ or by night patrolled the shore from here to Little Boar's 
Head, or contributed her share of that product peculiar to the New England 
seaport towns — that half sailor, half soldier, and all fighter — to the taking of 
Louisburg.2 There were coronations at Westminster, and changes of high 
officials at home. It was a gala day when a new royal governor was 
proclaimed. They would fire muskets on the parade at Portsmouth, and then 
the guns of the fort here would respond with a noisy salute. When the Earl 
of Bellamont was proclaimed in 1698, it took four gallons of rum with a due 
proportion of sugar, nutmegs, and limes (amounting to i _;^, 7 Shill., and Sd) 
to make the ceremony here at the fort pass off nicely. The receipt (not for 
making the punch, but in payment of the bill) is on record. What chiefly 
interests us, I think, is the apt name of the lieutenant who takes charge of 
these ingredients — Samuel Comfort. 

Towards dark on the afternoon of the I3tli December, 1774, a horseman 
rode in hot haste into Portsmouth. The king in council had passed an order 
prohibiting the exportation of gunpowder and military stores to America. 
The rider brought warning from the Boston committee of safety that a sloop 
of war had dropped down into the roadstead there, bound thither, it was 
thought, to strengthen Fort William and Mary. He was Paul Revere. 

The next day the roll of drum had brought together men from all direc- 
tions to the door of the state house. By three o'clock in the afternoon a band 
of about four hundred, headed by Captain Thomas Pickering, coming from 
Portsmouth, Rye, and New Castle, surrounded the fort here and demanded 
its surrender. Captain John Cochran held it with five men. He told the 
patriots on their peril not to enter. In his report the captain says, — " I 
ordered three four-pounders to be fired on them, and then the small arms, 
and before we could be ready to fire again we were stormed on all quarters." 

I XVII State Papers, 542. 

- Among the names of New Castle men who took part in the siege are Captain Abraham 
Trefethren and Thomas Card. Henry Trefethren and Lewis Tucker lost their lives in this 

campaign. 



48 



Seizing and confining the captain and his guard, the invaders broke open the 
magazine and carried off a hundred barrels or more of the king's powder. 
This powder did service for the cause of liberty at Bunker Hill. 

This exploit was followed up by a later attack, in which John Sullivan and 
John Langdon (both destined to become eminent) were leading actors. The 
party secured and brought away certain cannon and small arms. 

This daring enterprise, in which your townsmen took part, assigns to the 
spot where we now stand a place of honor as the scene of the first overt act 
of rebellion in the colonies. New Castle is thus brought into the very fore- 
ground of the opening scenes of the Revolution. 

You well know the story of Governor John Wentworth's coming hither to 
seek the shelter of the fort, and of the ships of war in the harbor. There 
are in the town office two letters written by the governor at that time to the 
selectmen of New Castle. 

On the 13th August, 1775, the selectmen (John Simpson, Henry Pres- 
cott, and George Frost, Jr.) addressed the governor, stating that the town had 
kept a watch at night, and that "about Twelve o'clock last night they were 
attacked by a number of men from His Majesty's ship, the Scarborough, one 
of whom was taken and carried aboard, and another wounded." The select- 
men pronounce it " a very extraordinary and alarming piece of conduct," and 
they ask that the man be released and set on shore. The governor prom- 
ises to look promptly into the affair, with what result it does not appear. 

On the 17th August, the governor requests the selectmen that he be sup- 
plied with provisions, for which he will pay, he having at least twenty in the 
family, and no communication with Portsmouth. The selectmen reply in a 
tone respectful, but spirited, as follows : 

" May it please Your Excellency : 

" In answer to Your Excellency's Letter of this Day we are sorry to inform 
you that this Town is so poorly furnished with Provisions of any kind that 
it is quite out of our Power to furnish your Excellency, and as the Com- 
munication is now stoped with Respects to the Transportation of Provisions 
from the Country to this Town it is not in our Power to procure more than a 
bare sufiiciency for our own subsistence, all which we are obliged to go to 
Portsmouth for. 

" We are Your Excellencies most obed'. Hum''''' Servants 

"John Simpson, 
" Henry Prescott 
" Selectmen of New Castle 
" New Castle Augt : 17 : 1775 " 

During the Revolution earthworks higher up the river were relied upon 
for the defence of Portsmouth. The fort here was left with but a handful of 
men. Captain Meshach Bell at one time had just six men under his com- 
mand. In the War of 1812 it was fully garrisoned under Captain Marshal. 
In 1861 the state troops garrisoned Fort Constitution. 

As an incident of the Revolution, it may be mentioned that on the ist 



49 



December, 1777, a ship arrived here from Europe bringing Baron Stciil)en, 
who came over to aid us. To that gallant officer's wonderful work in ])er- 
fecting the drill of the continental soldier was due, as you know, no small 
measure of our success. 

On Monday, the 2d November, 17S9, this fort gave a glad welcome of thir- 
teen guns to George Washington, president of the United States, who was 
being rowed by in a barge. At this date Captain John Blunt, who had 
piloted Washington's boat across the Delaware on the memorable eve of the 
Battle of Trenton, was living on Blunt's Island. It is thought that Wash- 
ington went ashore there to see Captain Blunt in hi.s own home. 1 

The military service required of the inhabitants of this town, it must be 
remembered, was promptly furnished at the fort. Yet there were those who 
enlisted and went forth to military duties in the field. Ten years ago there 
were living in New Castle one pensioner of the War of 181 2, Abram Ama- 
zeen ; and five widows of soldiers that served in that war, — Mrs. Mary White, 
Mrs. Hannah F. Vennard, Mrs. Grace Beal, Mrs. Mary Kinnear, and Mrs. 
Mary Lear. Mrs. Kinnear died at the age of 95 years and 9 months. 

During the War for the Union New Castle contributed of her men and 
means. On last Memorial Day flowers and the flag that we love so well 
marked the spot where those lay sleeping at Riverside and at Tarltons who 
died in order that the Union might live. They number eight at the former 
and ten at the latter cemetery. 

A full list of officers of the army who have been stationed at Fort Constitu- 
tion would be interesting. I have not had time to prepare it. Of the com- 
manding officers the following partial list is, I think, appro.ximately correct : 
1821, Major John B. Walbach ; 1822, Captain Fabius Whiting ; 1829, Cap- 
tain Felix Ansart ; 1839, Captain Justin Dimick; 1849, Major Charles S. 
Merchant; 1849, Captain Richard D. A. Wade ; 1850, Major John M. Wash- 
ington ; 1853, Captain William Austine. 

In December, 1853, Lieutenant-Colonel Washington and Captain Horace 
B. Field (who had been stationed here), of the 3d Artillery, were lost in a 
gale on the ill-fated steamer San Fi-ancisco, when four officers and one hun- 
dred and eighty men perished. As a boy I can remember the company 
marching up across the Parade at Portsmouth, on their way to Fort Colum- 
bus, New York harbor, thence to be transferred to the Pacific coast. Lieu- 
tenant Winder was among the saved.2 

Colonel Justin Dimick and his family were long identified with New Cas- 
tle and Portsmouth. I may also mention the fact that Major Robert Ander- 
son, of Fort Sumter fame, was stationed here as first lieutenant in i834-'35. 
Another officer was Francis Vinton, second lieutenant (i833-'36), who re- 
signed and became eminent as the Reverend Doctor Vinton, of New York 
city. 

Sergeant James Davidson, who had sole charge of the fort for many years, 

'During their terms of office President Pierce came here in the Wabash, man-of-war, 
and President Arthur was taken through New Castle on his way to Portsmouth. 
2 His son, Lieutenant William Winder of the navy, was born at Fort Constitution. 

4 



50 



deserves honorable remembrance. On the morning of the 2d June, 1S55, 
the frigate Constitution, lying off this harbor, fired a salute. It was returned 
from the fort, the sergeant himself firing it alone. I can easil)' recall with 
what admiration, when a boy, I regarded the soldierly bearing of Sergeant 
Davidson. 

New Castle in 16S6 became a port of entry. The trade was then confined 
to the products of the forest — masts, planks, and staves, — the fisheries having 
been given over. Twenty vessels of 290 tons belonged to Great Island in 
16S1. 

In 1839 the fishing business was very extensive. Fifty schooners were 
owned here in whole or in part. Captain Thomas Tarlton was a large owner. 
So was Captain Thomas E. Oliver. Other owners were the Bickfords, the 
Batsons, Whites, Curtises, and Amazeens. 

Some years later the manufacture of shoes was carried on here for a while 
with some success. 

In former times, when the fishermen were off at their business, political 
excitement occasionally dropped to a low ebb. A town meeting was duly 
warned for the last Monday in August, 1794, to vote for four representatives 
in the Congress of the United States. The following entry appears on the 
back of the warrant : 

"Monday, August 25, 1794. The select men assembled at the meeting 
House agreeable to the within warrant but as no others came except Henry 
Prescott Jun'r, they thought bsst to depart without doing any business. 
Henry Prescott, Town Clerk." 

There has never been over much wealth in New Castle, and the sea-faring 
element has predominated. Boys did not go to college : they went to sea. 
New Castle's claim to men of distinction is a modest one. 

Theodore Atkinson was chief-justice of the province. Colonel Shadrach 
Walton was a man whose career would have done honor to any locality. 
His great-grandson, Benjamin Randall, also a native, was a man of rare 
merit, the founder of the Freewill Baptist denomination. The first president 
p7-o tern, of the senate of the United States, the patriot John Langdon, was 
born in the town of New Castle. John Frost is the name of one of New 
Hampshire's best and most useful citizens. Sampson Sheafe was councillor 
for more than twenty years; Jacob Sheafe, his son, was born here in 17 15. 
George W. Prescott (who died in 1817) was graduated from Dartmouth, be- 
came a lawyer, and was United States attorney for the district of New Hamp- 
shire. I am told that Harriet Prescott Spofford is of this Prescott family. 

Now that a new era has dawned for New Castle, and summer visitors are 
more than charmed by its attractions, the town gets the benefit of some re- 
flected light in a literary way. If the poet be neither made nor born here, he at 
least sojourns here awhile. John Albee is one of us. The Town Report shows 
that he is still in the sunshine of civic distinction, being number three on the 
board of education. Arlo Baker was a bird of passage, but Stedman and 
Barrett Wendell are of our summer population. The latter is identified 
with our home industries, for I understand that he keeps a literary work- 



shop at full blast here in a little building hid away somewhere in the woody 
region of Frost Fields. Besides these whom I have named, as brilliant a 
historian as ever wrote English loves New Castle so well that he comes and 
dwells where on summer days he can from his window at Little Harbor look 
out upon the river view that he has so faithfully ))ainted in a late volume of 
that fascinating series, "The Conquest of Canada." 

There remain not a few subjects which for lack of time I am obliged to 
pass over without mention. The topography of the town, with special ref- 
erence to territory once of incorporated New Castle, that now belongs to 
Rye or to Portsmouth ; the bridges, early and late, and the means resorted 
to for raising funds wherewith to build them; the joining of Rye to New 
Castle in sending a representative to the General Court; the experiment of 
annexing Star Island in 1716, and how it turned out; the old custom of nightly 
hanging a lantern upon the flagstaff at the fort before a light-house was 
thought of; the long line of faithful ministers of the gospel who have labored 
here, not forgetting in this connection the Reverend Mr. Chase's negro man 
Cuff, "the saxton," who rang the bell and cleaned the meeting-house; the 
changes that followed the opening of The Wentworth, the enterprise of its 
owner in beautifying the grounds, sparing no pains to render it a summer 
dwelling-place worthy of the views one gains there, views that once seen 
are never forgotten. These, and many other topics, were full of interest 
could we bring them before us. 

We have thus for a few brief moments contemplated the New Castle of 
the past. We have seen her the home of a sturdy, a frugal, a self-respecting 
people. We have seen her true to the traditions of her Anglo-Saxon, lib- 
erty-loving ancestry. We have seen her prompt in war ; hardy and industri- 
ous in peace. We have seen in her annals the bright incentive to the main- 
tenance of a high standard of activity for the future. 

Let us in turn uphold her honor and dignity. Grateful that Providence has 
watched over and protected our whole country, let us for the new century 
upon which we have now entered look forward to blessings yet to come, in 
the full hope that as prosperity shall dwell within our borders as a Nation, so 
shall the Divine favor in no small measure continue to rest upon this good, 
old, island town of New Castle. 



^i«K 



UC^u?i] 



